It's been 3 weeks since I wrote last. It's been a very crazy time and we have been very blessed to pass through it so well.

Oftentimes I pray for protection from harm, danger and accident. I also pray sometimes for my family's protection with the presence of holy angels. I've had experiences in the past where I believe those prayers were answered. This month, again, we've felt that blessing.

It all started on Friday, June 29, 2012 around 5:30pm when I was on my way home for a hot date with Angie. I had already picked up our babysitter and Angie called my cell to tell me about the humongous storm coming within the hour. There were dark storm clouds ahead, those dark blue kind. It was pretty to look at.

But not the aftermath. It was pretty something else. Lame.

The storm was called a derecho. It only lasted 10-15 minutes in our area and I'm guessing it was similar in other areas. It was very powerful, however, and it leveled trees and many power lines in several states. We did not know this at the time. Even if we did, it wouldn't have made much difference.

It was date night.

Hot Date Night.

And we had a babysitter. We got out flashlights and candles for everyone and some glow sticks for the boys in case the power stayed off during the night. Glow sticks are part of our 72-hour kits for just this reason. Our boys go nuts in pitch darkness. We avoid the screaming with a fun glow stick. Thanks, Dollar Store!

Our plans were to go to dinner that night. The storm was heading southeast and we didn't want to catch up to it by driving after it. So we went north and it's a good thing we did. We tried to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant in that direction. We got to the general area and found out that Wal-Mart's power was off. That wasn't a good sign. We kept going to the restaurant, thinking they'd be out of power too, but it was date night! Hot Date Night! We made it to the turnoff for the Mexican restaurant only to see the road blocked with orange cones and guarded by a police car. Then we saw a fire engine and smoke rising nearby. There was a little fire in the trees between us and our favorite California Burrito (with chicken!) so we couldn't go any farther. I guess lightning struck a tree and caused the fire.

We saw so many businesses without power that we headed north again to the next city. There was a little diner in a small area that happened to have power. They got flooded with customers at this time since so many people were without power. I heard there were 3.2 million people who lost power from the storm. I can't confirm that, but I can confirm that 600,000+ lost power that are customers of our electric company in our state alone so I believe the number. Anyway, many of these people were looking for food and this diner stayed open past hours to serve them all. We were very grateful. (BTW, Angie's black bean burger was even better than my super duper awesome BBQ-smothered pulled pork sandwich. I want to go back just for another taste of that burger!)

This power outage occurred during one of the hottest weeks I can remember. Temperatures were 90+ degrees Fahrenheit every day and some days were over 100 degrees. Add on humidity for a rough time. The first day we just drove around all day in our van so we could stay cool. We drove an hour to get to some stores that were open and we spent the day shopping in comfort.

The following days were nuts. We couldn't cool off the house at night because it didn't get below 70 degrees. And the uncomfortable and uncanny lack of wind was a huge deal. In essence, the house didn't cool off in the evenings below about 80 degrees and each morning we had to leave by 9 or 10am because we started getting cooked alive in our house.

Each night got worse and worse. We set up a tent on the porch one night, but I decided last second not to sleep in it, even though it was cooler outside. Good thing, too! It rained really hard that night. That would have been really lame because our boys are scared of thunder and terrified if it's close.

After a week of spending the afternoons and evenings with friends or at the church building, we happened to be with another family from church when they got a phone call saying their power was on. We were so blessed to be with them because they invited us over to spend the night. We'd been on the verge of finding somewhere to go for a night or two. This was a miracle for us. These people truly are angels who reached out and blessed us and, especially, our kids.

We were worried about our kids for days, especially our baby. Nights were so hot that we didn't know if the boys would get sick or if anything bad would happen to them from heat overload. We didn't want our baby to get too hot or too cold and didn't know how to dress him before bed. We were blessed with good health during those hot nights at home. We were more blessed to have cool nights with air conditioning at our friends' home. All the thanks we gave them didn't equal the blessing it was to be there. We hope to return the favor to somebody who needs our help as badly as we needed theirs.

Thank you JJJMG&C(&A)!!!

A boy's service

Last week my whole family got sick, including me, and it was bad. We laid around, each on our worst days, looking very pathetic. It was not our normal routine for getting sick. Usually the boys get sick first, Angie might get a little of it or maybe a medium dose of it. I often get a little something in my stomach for a couple hours and then it goes away. Just as often I don't get anything at all. Then we get better and get back to life as normal.

Last week was horrible.

The boys got sick, but it wasn't obvious that they were hit any harder than normal. They get fevers and runny noses pretty easily. They asked for blessings and we talked about faith, priesthood blessings and service. Then Angie got sick. It came fast and hard. In hindsight, I should have taken something to boost my immune system. I take vitamins every day and that often keeps me out of trouble so I don't have to do any last-minute defense. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. But I digress.

Angie was bed-ridden and didn't walk around much for a couple days. One of those days was Saturday and I was feeling pretty poorly too. Skyler wanted to do something sooo nice for Angie. It's something he's been planning to do for weeks, but it hasn't worked out. Angie and I are so impressed with his initiative. And his love.

He asked if he could make Angie lunch in bed (or on the couch) since she wasn't going to join us at the table. He wanted to make scrambled eggs on a cookie sheet (and wanted to grease it first) and then hand deliver it. It was the sweetest thing. Now, I had to help him and he wanted to go way faster than I could handle. He got the eggs out of the fridge and was about to start cracking them into the cookie sheet by the time I got myself off the couch to stop him from cracking the first egg. This at least shows that Skyler has lots of guts and is willing to do hard things. Most days it's hard enough to keep up with all he wants to do. That's just how he is and we love him for it.

I helped him crack eggs into a bowl so he could fish out bits of shell. Then he had a hand in cooking the eggs, but before they got done he tried to spray the cookie sheet (again), thinking that we'd pour the eggs onto it like a plate. It was awesome. So I encouraged him to get out a plate to put on the tray. He didn't understand why. It was so funny!

Well, it was a great thing and we praised him highly.

On Friday morning I heard him in the kitchen and went out to see what was going on. Sounds in the kitchen usually mean trouble. Today it meant I caught Skyler doing another good deed. He was disheartened that I found him making my lunch. Surprise! He made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich, carrots, trail mix and chocolate-covered blueberries. What a little stud! It was awesome!

Bearing testimony in word and deed

There are so many exciting things going on in life right now! Family stuff, work, research is moving along, graduation gets closer every single day, employment ideas, recruiter phone calls and job interviews, and some game development that is going very well right now. This blog is for spiritual matters. When I talk about non-spiritual matters I for sure want to talk about how it relates to seeking the guidance of the Lord and receiving answers to prayers.

Well, today is the first Sunday of the month and that means we had fast and testimony meeting today. I share my testimony often at church. Part of it is to overcome fear, but I try to feel when the Spirit tells me to bear my witness of the Savior. When I feel it most strongly, it is a feeling that starts the day or night before. I just know ahead of time that I'm going to do it so I am usually the first one up. That helps my nerves too, to be the first one up. I don't like being nervous so I'd rather act quickly and enjoy the rest of the meeting while I listen to other people's testimonies.

Another reason for sharing my testimony so often started many years ago when I learned that my sins can be forgiven by bearing testimony to others. That's in Doctrine and Covenants 62:3.

There are days that I really feel the Spirit (or lack of it) telling me not to bear my testimony that day. Those fast and testimony meetings tend to have lots of other people bearing testimony. Maybe I'm just being told ahead of time to not worry about it. I don't know. But what I do know is that when I feel like I should do something, it's always better to follow the promptings of the Spirit than to follow my own way.

I shared my testimony today about how much I love the beginning books in the Book of Mormon. I'm not sure if it's just Nephi's (and Jacob's) writing style. I think it's because they are bearing their own witness of Jesus Christ and that touches my soul. Most of what is in the 1st and 2nd books of Nephi is pure doctrine. A lot of what comes in later books includes mundane topics like history and war, speckled with doctrine. The last few chapters of the Book of Mormon really focus on the Spirit again and I really like those parts. Then, when I start reading the Book of Mormon over again, I bask in the testimony of one of my favorite prophets ever. I just feel so happy reading the testimony that others have of my Savior. It's a huge strength and blessing to me. One day I'll meet Nephi and tell him thanks (if that's how it works in heaven).

I enjoyed hearing everyone else's testimony today. The one I'll mention is a friend of ours who bore her testimony about a scripture that I have been telling Angie about a lot lately. When this friend quoted it, Angie and I looked at each other. It was awesome.

The scripture that she quoted can be found in Psalms 46:10 and D&C 101:16. "Be still and know that I am God." I have had a lot of things on my mind that are important (or that I make more important than they should be, like looking for work and my game development hobbies). "[Being] still" has saved my sanity lots of days over the past several months, ever since I began preparing for my interview with Google.

Our friend said, "This scripture has meant different things to me during my life," and that is true for me too. But the recurring theme for me is that I bring too much upon myself and try to handle it all. I love working on ideas and accomplishing big things (or what I think are big). In reality, I just need to calm myself down and understand the Lord's plan for me and "...know that [He] is God."

I'm holding back on exploring new job opportunities right now. The main reason is because I've been told way too many times by recruiters and employers that I need to call back when I'm about to graduate and can move on short notice. This is a good problem to have, but it hasn't stopped me from applying for more jobs that sound too awesome to pass up. Looking back, I just started looking for jobs too soon. The other reason that I'm not looking for jobs right now is that I found something at a recent astronomy conference that might work out and they will wait for me until the summer. Even without that, I wouldn't be looking for work right now like I have been. It takes a lot of time and there are many software development job openings right now.

My testimony is that the Lord knows all. His ways are higher than my ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). When He tells me something and I feel and recognize His voice, I know that obeying will be the best thing for my life. Hands down. No complaining. Just do it.

One more thing that I want to say is that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are among the nicest and most charitable people I know. A friend of mine that I play a lot of board games with fell off a ladder a couple days ago. Long story short, he landed on his heels and broke them in a big way. He'll be off his feet for months. Several willing people at church volunteered to go build a wheelchair ramp at their home. It's an emergency situation for this family. I love seeing people reach out and serve.

I love being a member of this church.

The 12 Days of Christmas

For the past twelve days, our family has been the happy recipient of Christmas love and cheer from an unknown Do Gooder. We really have no idea who it is. There was a lot of sneakery and staying up late at night for them to put all the gifts on our porch without us hearing them. Angie is up late every night with Briggie and I wake up early in the morning to start my routine.

One night was a little different, though. We heard what sounded like someone tripping on our wooden porch and making a loud thump! We didn't want to run outside to see who it was and spoil the fun. A minute later there was a loud knock on our porch window.

That's odd.

I slowly rose from the couch and looked out the front door's window. There was a plate full of sugary delights. That's when we realized the purpose for the non-sneakery for one night. Those home-baked goodies would have been enjoyed by Ohioan fauna (namely, raccoons and neighborhood cats) before we found them the next morning. Nice move, Do Gooders! And well made!

Our Christmas season has been one of the best that I can remember because of the love and care shown to our family. We have, in turn, decided to help others more than we normally would have. And we tried extra hard to teach our kids that the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We talked about the symbols that remind us of gospel truths and signs of Christ's birth. We also taught our boys to be grateful for what gifts they do receive on Christmas morning because it won't be everything they asked for.

We are so blessed. We see the tender mercies of the Lord all around us and feel the love of...someone...doing good and spreading Christmas cheer.

Someone Paid For Your Food

Angie and I have gone on a date nearly every week since we got married. Spending time away from home and from the kids each week is a great way that we have found to relax from the day to day busy-ness and to enjoy each other's company. We put a high priority on our marriage and family happiness and this does wonders for us. Most of the time we go out to eat and talk about stuff that has been going on. Stuff for her, stuff for me, stuff about the boys. There have been times where we run out of things to talk about and we just stare at each other and snicker.

I just love it. Sometimes I just watch her when she's cutting her next few bites of burrito and she thinks I'm doing the same. She's so nice to look at and she warms my heart. Only when she looks up does she catch me showing my affection toward her with a big grin on my face. "What are you laughing at?" she usually asks. Then I tell her that I love her tons and we go on with our meal...talking or staring. :)

Well, there's an awesome Mexican restaurant where we eat often. This place is really popular and busy. We see someone we know there every few times we go, which is a lot of fun. This week saw two families that we know. We visited briefly with each of them and then got down to business.

The business of eating.

We were the last to arrive and we were the last to leave. After we ate we asked for some more chips and salsa. Yum. Then we talked for so long that we figured the waiter forgot about us. It was really weird. After a really long time, a different waiter came walking along holding fried ice cream. It's really good stuff, but he made eye contact and I didn't want him to ask me if we saved any room for dessert so I averted my eyes. He marched right up to our table and said, "Someone paid for your food and they bought you this."

We were floored.

This is the kind of thing that you do to be sneaky and nice for someone else, not the kind of thing that happens to you! But it did happen. And it happened to us.

So we approached the Nice-Doers today at church. We thanked them for their surprise and she said, "Actually it was his idea." I shook his hand and he said, "I remember what it was like to be your age and in school. I thought it would be nice."

Thank you both. You made the world a better place. You strengthened our testimonies. You showed service in action and the love of the Lord toward your fellow men.

May the Lord bless you richly!

Random, Act of Kindness

The Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25–37
link to pic

This story is so odd that I have to share it. Perhaps it will sound like a "right time, right place" coincidence to you. We shall see.

My mom was here helping us after our new baby was born (thanks a bazillion, Mom!) and I took her to the airport to catch her flight. When she was getting her boarding pass I looked over and saw a girl who has been taking the missionary lessons and attending my ward (Random!). I think she was planning on getting baptized. Well, I told my mom I wanted to say hi to this girl before we headed to the food court for lunch. When I went to talk to her, I could see she was on the phone and having some difficulty in line so I didn't bother her.

Fast forward past lunch (Philly cheesesteak, yum!) and saying a tearful goodbye to my mom at the security gate. I was going to the food court to play on my laptop for a few hours while I waited for my mom-in-law to arrive.

Well, on my way back I passed the ticket counter and saw the girl on the phone again. It was obvious that something was wrong so I stopped to see if I could help her. "Is everything ok?" I asked.

"No. They won't let me through security. I don't have a driver's license and all my other identification is with my family (in another state). Security doesn't accept faxes because they can be tampered with." Then she told me about the crazy situation she was in: she got on the plane to come here with some high school ID (a copy with a picture that could easily be confused with a dark storm cloud at night) and this airport won't accept it; the other airport probably shouldn't have either. Since she was dropped off and didn't have any money, she was stranded at the airport, trying to make phone calls and somehow get on her flight. Security would allow one thing that she could try to get...hospital records with her personal information (wow, I never thought of that). Things weren't looking good. Not good at all.

She was even more distraught because she paid someone gas money to get to the airport and didn't have anything else to get home...or to get back to the airport even if she got the hospital records.

Does the Good Samaritan come to mind? It does to mine.

I told her I'd be around for a few hours anyway and I could take her back to her friend's house near where I live. To make the rest of the long story short, I bought her lunch, told her I could take her home and bring her back the next day (the airport is an hour away).

Happily, she got the hospital records and I took my family for a drive to the airport the next day. The airline employees and security officers remembered her and hoped that she'd get the okay to proceed. It was a nervous time while we waited for the right person to give clearance, but it finally came. Phew! She was grateful and so was one employee who said something like, "Sir, I don't know who you are, but you are doing this person a huge favor."

It's amazing that I was there to see a fellow citizen in need and had the time/resources to help her when she couldn't help herself.

By Their Works Ye Shall Know Them

As you saw in my last post, we had a baby last week. There are several things on my mind about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the service that we have received and the love that has been shown to us since even before little Briggie was born. I'd love to name names, but when I describe the acts of love and service you'll know who you are.

From the moment people started finding out that Angie was in labor and that we were at the hospital, we started feeling the love. Luckily, I posted something on FB about Angie's water breaking before I left home because we didn't get any Internet signal in the rooms we were in. I really wanted to let people know what was going on during the day...but it didn't happen.

We got phone calls while we were at the hospital to congratulate us and someone brought us a Hospital Survival Kit with treats and some items that came in really handy; stuff like shampoo and hair elastics. Great thinking! Some friends started calling the hospital room before Briggie was even born. So nice! We felt so much support from family and friends near and far.

One friend picked up our boys from the bus stop and fed them dinner before bringing them to the hospital to see their new little brother. A couple families even offered to let our older boys sleep at their house so I could stay the night in the hospital room. That was a huge expression of sacrifice and we appreciated it a whole lot.

There are many good-hearted people in this world that love to serve others and do kind deeds. Some of these people belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and others belong to other denominations. I am grateful for the love of God that comes to my family through others, no matter what church they attend (or even if they don't attend!).

The phrases that come to mind that relate to gospel living are these:

Service in action

Faith without works is dead (James 2:20)

Faith, hope and charity with an eye single to the glory of God (Doctrine and Covenants 4:5)

The gospel of Jesus Christ truly moves people to serve others in love. In many ways I wish we had not had the baby until my mom was in town. Her flight was booked months ago and Briggie was born earlier than expected. But, now that we're past those difficult days, I am very grateful that my mom came after we received so many acts of love. We would have missed out on so much. Many people have offered to bring us meals. As the husband and father of three, I think I appreciated this the most out of any of us. It was nice knowing I didn't have to make meals with so much on my mind! Someone volunteered to come over one night to watch our boys so I could spend some quiet time with Angie in the hospital. Guess what she did? She washed the dishes and cleaned our nasty stove. Thank you!!!

My testimony of service has increased. Each person that did one of these small or large acts of service said it was no big deal to help us out. Added together, these were literally more than I was able to do. The next time I help someone out and they thank me for my time and effort, I will remember what it was like to receive.

The title "By their works ye shall know them" comes from Moroni 7:5.